Pipetting is a technique commonly employed within medical, biotechnology and life science laboratories to transfer a precise volume of liquid from a source reservoir to a target reservoir. A pipette typically uses a controlled vacuum to draw a liquid into its tip and later the vacuum is released to expel a specific amount of the liquid into a destination reservoir. Often a large number of measured samples of a liquid or liquids must be obtained and analyzed under a variety of conditions to satisfy the requirements of a laboratory test. Consequently, the task of pipetting liquid specimens to and from various test tubes and micro tubes can be a tedious and repetitive task. It is well understood that such tasks can be the cause of debilitating repetitive stress injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Repetitive stress injuries can affect the hands, wrists, elbows and other parts of the body when specific tasks are executed repeatedly and over multiple days such that the tasks are performed in a relatively stressful manner, due to a non-ergonomic work environment and also when the affected body parts are provided insufficient time to heal.
Numerous racks and holding assemblies for test tubes, micro tubes and micro plates have been developed to address a variety of handling, measurement and positioning requirements. U.S. Pat. No. 5,128,105, issued to Berthold on Jul. 7, 1992, relates to a rack system for a plurality of specimen containers used for transporting the specimen containers through a measurement instrument. U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,667, issued to Elson on Apr. 25, 1995, relates to a portable rack for medical or laboratory tubes where it is desirable that the tubes be supported in either generally vertical or horizontal positions, as the user desires. In particular, the portable rack is especially useful for maintaining a horizontal orientation of a viewing section of the tubes after centrifuging. U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,832, issued to Perlman on Sep. 14, 1999, relates to a specimen vial storage assembly which includes multiple specimen vials, a rigid support member and a flexible sheet storage device. The device is directed toward the storage of specimen vials such that accidental loss and mix-up of samples is minimized. U.S. Application No. 2001/0002986 A1, filed by Fattinger; et al. on Dec. 20, 2000, relates to a handling system for a multiplicity of chemical or biological compounds or samples adapted for high throughput screening of stored samples. In particular, a system for handling a multiplicity of tubes is disclosed in which a tube can be inserted and removed from a storage compartment located within a single piece frame. The apparatus is suitable for use with conventional robots used in high throughput screening to allow efficient means of storage and retrieval of individual samples.
While it is evident that the design of apparatus for handling laboratory test tubes, micro tubes and micro plates is an active field, fostering considerable development and innovation, the prior art does not address the need for an ergonomic pipetting environment, especially a pipetting environment which includes a configuration of different-sizes and types of test tubes or micro plates.
A typical work environment for pipetting consists of a plurality of racks for various test tubes containing liquid specimens as well as one or more micro plates arranged on a lab bench. A micro plate is a flat plate, usually made of polystyrene, which includes an array of wells used as small test tubes. Micro plates can also be designed to hold an array of small glass tube inserts. Each well within a micro plate typically holds from several microliters to several milliliters of liquid and can be formed in a variety of shapes. Further, a single micro plate may include an array of several to several hundred wells. As part of a laboratory test, a technician will typically move a plurality of measured samples of liquids to and from various beakers, tubes and micro tubes disposed on a lab bench. Since the racks of test tubes and micro plates are typically arranged and rest directly on the surface of a lab bench, few ergonomic adjustments are available to a lab technician when pipetting liquid samples. The lack of an optimized ergonomic pipetting work environment can contribute to the development of repetitive stress injuries and an increase in the possibility of errors in lab testing. It would therefore be beneficial to provide a pipetting environment that would allow for greater adjustment of the collective positioning and arrangement of the tubes and micro plates needed for pipetting, in order to reduce the occurrence of repetitive stress injures and the likelihood of pipetting errors.